so badly that the glass rattled against my teeth. She sat

" she whispered, thou

d, burying my face in her s

roking my hair. "As long as w

le touch, I felt the forgiveness I didn't deserve. We stayed like that for a long time, th

lay awake in my childhood room. The floral wallpaper and faded posters w

the thought was terrifying. My life had been entangled with

orphan, that he'd grown up in the foster system, and that he was going to build an empire from nothing. I wa

ht he was too intense, too driven, but they saw how happy he made me. For our first

ank statement by accident. The numbers on it didn't make sense. Th

er tech fortune, one of the wealthiest, most powerful families in the country. He had been

my world tilting on its axis

his voice thick with emotion. "I had to know that you loved me. Just me. Not the money, not the name. I've been sur

ayal; it was the ultimate test of my love, and I had passed. I embraced his world, learned to navigate the

e around him. I saw his vulnerability as a wound from his lonely childhood, and I made it my mission to heal him with my love. I poured everything I had into him, s

e to Layla Scott. She was a beautiful, bright-eyed college student, an intern at his company. He had a strange look in

e had his hand on the small of her back. The gesture was casua

card charges for hotels and expensive gifts. The evidence was overwhelming. He

him, he didn't even have t

as if that explained everything. "

had asked, my voice breaking.

he'd sighed. "This has

timate dismissal. Our life together, my

ssed my period. I took a test, my hands

iti

less doctor's appointments and qui

x everything. It would be the anchor that would bring him back to me, back t

if I could just get her out of the picture, even for a few days, I could tell him ab

hed down on me. He wouldn't have cared about the baby. It woul

y, innocent life, had been conceived at the bitter en

thing connecting m